564 THE EDIBLE CRAB, 
through which the creature might have drawn the imprisoned limb, and it is 
also evident that the only method by which these members can be ex- 
tricated is by pulling them fairly through the joints. Asa preliminary step, 
the hard, firm, muscular fibres which fili the ciaw and give it the well- 
known pinching power, become sott, flaccid, and watery, and can thus be 
drawn through the comparatively small openings through which the tendons 
pass from one joint to another. The sharp and knife-like edges of the plates 
cut deeply through the muscle, which, however, is little injured, on account 
of its soft consistency, and heals with great rapidity as suon as the animal 
recovers its strengh and is gifted with a new shell. In the common edible 
crab, the flesh is quite unfit for consumption during this pro ess, as anyone 
can attest who has attempted to dress and eata “waiery” crab. Yet, in 
some of the exotic crustaveans, these conditions are exactly reversed, and 
the crabs are never so fit for the table as while they are soft and shell-less, 
after the old suit of armour has been thrown off, and before the new 
integument has received its hardening. 
WE now come to the SPiDER-CRABS, scientifically termed Maiadee. 
A very common and a very useful British species is seen in the illus- 
tration, sitting on the rock. The common THORNBACK SPIDER-CRAB, or 
SQUINADO, is plenuful upon our coasts, and, as may be seen by reference 
to the figure,is not a very prepossessing creature in external appearance, 
its body being one mass of sharp and not very short spines, and its whole 
frame possessing a weird-like and uncomely aspect. ~ 
Ugly though it may be in an artistic point ot view, it is one of the most 
useful inhabitants of the sea, acting as a scavenger for the removal of the 
decaying animal matter that is ‘ever found in the seas. More especially along 
tthe shore, where the refuse of: mankind, such as unsaleable fish and crus- 
taceans, are continually being cast into the waves, the Squinado.is found to 
perform the necessary office of removing all such substances. It is a vora- 
cious creature, and being gifted with an acute sense of smell, is sure to 
discover without delay any substance on which it can feed, and to make its 
way thereto without delay. 
The Squinado, together with other crabs, sets to work boldly : with one 
claw he holds tightly to the 
banquet, and with the other 
tears off morsels and deftly 
feeds himself therewith, put- 
ting them into his comical 
jaws with the regularity of 
clockwork, and with a ra- 
pidity that reminds the ob- 
server of a Chinese flinging 
rice into his -mouth with 
his chopsticks. The strength 
and sharpness of the claws 
are such that the toughest 
‘muscle cannot long with- 
stand their power, and the 
flesh is torn from the bones 
as perfectly as if scraped 
VY SZ away by a knife, ' 
It is a curious fact that the 
ee ENB Cancer poet) back of this crab is generally 
a resting-place for sundry zoophytes, which often grow in such protusion as 
to hide the animal completely. A specimen half covered with zoophytes is 
